Alright. Already in debt. You can still fix this.
Find somebody completely unrelated to our cousin and the Camonna Tong to help. Hopefully at the bar. Or arm-wrestle somebody into submission!
It's a tempting idea. You could use the last of your money to get hammered and carouse with the other drunkards before leaving with the next caravan out of town and start a new life in Whiterun. On the other hand, Thauraver is still family, and family means a lot to Dunmer. Even if the family member in question is an idiot.
"Okay, fine then. Did you at least manage to benefit from this deal?"
Ask what he spent the money on, and what the terms for it were.
Or what he is expected to do in return.
"How much did you borrow and how much do you still have?""Two thousands septims borrowed and we still have about eight hundred.""How did you manage to waste over a thousands septims already?!"He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
"I... Look, it's a long story. I made some poor financial decisions, some unpleasant events occurred, and now we're down to eight hundred gold.""Just tell me what you spent it on.""Food, lodging, bribes. I didn't gamble it away or anything.""What were the terms of the deal you made?""Two thousand septims loaned to be paid back plus five hundred in interest within three months. Defaulting leads to whatever the Camona Tong decides at the end of the allotted time. We still have two and a half months left."Two and a half months to turn eight hundred coins into two thousand five hundred. This is gonna be tricky.
You know what is the best business for wartime? Coffins. Someone's got to do it. Suggest that to the cousin.
That's an interesting idea. You could probably find a chink to exploit somewhere in the carpentry machine: with the number of dead sons of Skyrim in need of burial, either buying up wood to drive up prices or hiring carpenters to create enough of a monopoly to make a profit could work. Considering that most craftsmen make fewer than ten septims per day, you could have an angle to convince them to work for wages rather than to directly sell their products if you could promise a substantial increase in profit, especially since you could subsidize the actual revenue from sales with your own money until the profits start to roll in.
Cousin, why don't we set up a carriage service?
You could probably afford to either procure a comfortable carriage and hire enough guards to create a safe and outrageously priced carriage service for nobility (especially if you marketed it well and fabricated a name for the operation) or rent and run multiple cheaper carriages between the holds. You could even piggyback a small-scale trading operation onto it, if you went with the latter.
Go to an Orchish stronghold and set up a contract with a reliable Orc to supply only us with Iron. Once we've secured the iron we can sell it to the highest bidders in the weapon smithing businesses. Of course a side quest is going to be needed.
That would be a veritable gold mine. It'd be difficult to convince a stronghold to open up its gates, but if you could find an orc to act as the middleman you would definitely have a chance.
Perhaps we could get into contact with a Khajit trading caravan? Chances are that they have a hard time finding an "in" with cities, we could be a middleman.
Now
that's an interesting idea. The Khajiit caravans are rarely allowed into cities, but they travel the roads nearly unhindered by both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. Not only would that allow you to bring in high-demand goods, you could also bring in luxury items from the Empire proper: gold and silver from Hammerfell, silks from High Rock, and various illicit goods that always make a significant profit. It'd be a risky investment, though. If a caravan was raided by bandits, you could lose a whole lot of money.
Well.. since we seem like a classical example of a Dunmer, we are bound to see them as even below man. Not the best starting point for a middleman.
You're keenly aware of your innate elven superiority, but you're an agent of House Hlaalu. You can put on whatever face you need to to make sure a deal works, even smiling and shaking a cat's paw while promising a fair split of the profits.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do..."You have 820 septims between the two of you. You have two and a half months to get 2500 septims. What will your first target be?